


Out From Under the Ice

by Siadea



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: AU, Alternate Ending, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-20
Updated: 2013-10-20
Packaged: 2017-12-29 22:45:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1011010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siadea/pseuds/Siadea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack handles the final confrontation with Pitch a little differently, Pitch Black strikes a bargain, and several people make rash decisions. Jack also learns that nightmares have a dreadful sense of humor, in every sense of the word.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out From Under the Ice

**Author's Note:**

> From a [kink meme prompt.](http://rotg-kink.dreamwidth.org/1511.html?thread=147943) Some nightmare naming systems borrowed from Piers Anthony. The idea of nightmares as named for lunar mares was just too good to pass up!
> 
> Not sure how fast this will update, if ever, but I figured it'd be nice to upload it anyway. It's reasonably stand-alone, at least?

"Jack, I'm scared."

 Jack Frost stared at Jamie, the words echoing past hundreds of years. Newer words joined them, much more recent.

  _Oh,_ I  _don't know what it's like - to be cast out?! To not be_  believed  _in?!_

He took a deep breath, and forced his tone to be concerned, not afraid. "I know, I know. But - you're gonna be all right." Pitch wasn't some frozen pond or cracking ice. He was like Jack, like what Jack could've been. It didn't make him good, or right, but it made Jack _understand_. "You know the bogeyman, right? That's him. His name's Pitch Black."

"What are you doing?" Pitch demanded, but he'd stopped. Frozen, ha. Jamie's eyes went from Jack to Pitch, to the horses, and back to Jack.

 "The bogeyman," he repeated, as if testing the words out. "And, um, I guess those're nightmares, huh." 

 "Yeah, pretty much. We've... been having some trouble."

 " _Some trouble?_ " Bunnymund sprang out of North's arms, furious. "Some trouble! You _know_  what he's done!"

 Jamie jerked, startled, and took in the rabbit Guardian's reduced stature, Santa Claus using a sword as a crutch, the iridescent feathers scattered at the Tooth Fairy's feet. "He's the guy that did all that?" Fear was rising in his voice again, and out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw one of the nightmares toss its head and scrape at the ground with a hoof.

 "He's a pretty scary guy," Jack agreed, trying to tell Bunnymund to shut up by the sheer force of his glare. Somehow he managed, though Bunnymund's expression meant he'd be paying for it later. "The monster under the bed doesn't really... _go_  with Easter, you know what I mean?"

 "Uh huh." Jamie looked past him to Pitch and the nightmares again, but he was _thinking_  this time, Jack could see it. "So you've been fighting and stuff?"

 Jack could see Pitch realizing he was being seen, not just feared but _seen_. He didn't think _his_  face had looked like that at all. The nightmares stirred restlessly, and the bogeyman flicked his fingers to quiet them. North straightened, alerted t0 something Jack couldn't sense. 

 Jack opened his mouth to answer, but Pitch Black beat him to it. "Yes. We've been... Fighting." The bogeyman took a step forward, holding the mares at bay with an outstretched hand. "You know what it's like to be dismissed. Don't you, Jamie Bennet? Everyone you know, turning their back to you, because they don't believe what you have to say. As if they don't hear you at all."

 Jamie nodded, transfixed. "That's what you want? For people to listen to you?" he ventured. "Believe in you, like Santa? Jack was really excited when I could see him..."

 "Yes, I imagine he was." Pitch's face was ugly with jealousy, however smooth his voice sounded. Jack thought he looked a lot like Abbey the greyhound had, right before she'd lunged for Bunnymund. He put his arm around Jamie's shoulders, fierce and protective and definitely not over being a real person who could touch people. 

 Jamie was on a roll, though, and wasn't even put off by the bogeyman's jagged teeth. "I think I get it. If I... promise to tell all my friends about you, and, and your name and everything, will you stop fighting with Jack and Santa and everybody?"

 "Why should I?" Pitch said, almost more to himself than Jamie. "I've already won. I could snuff them all, right now." Still, he looked kind of like someone who'd just been hit in the face with the biggest snowball on the planet, and wasn't sure what he thought about it. 

 Jack opened his mouth before he could think better of it. "Because that's not what you really want. You told me, I remember. You said you wanted a family."

 For a second, Jack thought he'd blown the whole thing; Pitch's face curdled in humiliation, shoulders coming up. This was going to be _awful -_

 Bunnymund drummed his hind leg on the pavement, startlingly loud. He looked furious and determined all at once, all wound up like a spring. "'Scuse _me!_  If I'm not mistaken - and I am bloody well _not_  mistaken - it's still Bright Monday. That's mine, that is. Easter," he added to Jamie and Jack, "is pret-ty important, some places, all bunnies aside. And I know _you_  know what I'm talking about, Pitch Black. So I'll give you a fair go. You bring us back the Sandman, and you can rock up at the Warren any time you like, won't even give ya the boot on Good Friday."

 "Why." Pitch's eyes went from Bunnymund to Jamie to Jack, North, and Tooth. A few of the mares danced in place, or slipped into the background shadows.

 One of Bunnymund's ears flipped up. Was he a little taller? "Cos it's Easter. If ya can't bring back Sandy on Easter, it can't be done."

 "How generous," the bogeyman sneered. Still, he held up a finger, sliding back a few steps. The mares flowed in around him, only a few keeping baleful yellow eyes on the bedraggled Guardians. Obscured by the mass of dark sand, Pitch gestured, murmuring to the nightmares.

 Bunnymund's ears swiveled, but any sort of eavesdropping was impossible. The mares were making... noises, not quite horse noises: eerie keens and moans and deep creaking sounds. "Sorry pack of brumbies," Bunnymund mumbled, but Jamie's hand fisted tight in the material of Jack's hoodie.

 Pitch Black abruptly reaching up and yanking down the head of an angry nightmare re-focused everyone's attention, though. "I don't care!" the bogeyman spat at the horse, then went back to muttering, this time more urgently.

 "Jack, what's he doing?" Jamie whispered. "Is it gonna be okay?"

 "I sure hope so," Jack whispered back. "We're gonna feel real stupid if it doesn't..."

 As if they'd overheard, the nightmares broke away from Pitch, tossing their heads and tails and looking even less happy than black sand nightmare creatures _usually_  looked. Pitch Black, though, seemed very pleased with himself. "I think we can do much better than _that_ ," he said pleasantly. "Do pardon the intrusion, I'll need to - borrow - a few things from your domains."

 "If you even _touch_  the rest of my fairies..." Tooth hissed, feathers puffing up. 

 "Ah, dear Tooth, so glad to see one of you still has _some_  sense!" the bogeyman applauded. Jack was starting to suspect he couldn't be nice even if he tried. Or maybe Pitch was just trying to distract them from him backing off; Jack's head hurt when he tried to peel away all of Pitch's dramatics. "No, your little sprites are of no concern to us, and we'll do no more than you would yourself if you were able."

 North's eyebrows went up. " _You_  will collect teeth and leave gifts?" 

 "In our own way," the bogeyman smiled. The nightmare at his shoulder rose up on its hind legs with another unearthly noise. Pitch swung around, snarling, and the mare dissolved into black sand, reforming further away. By the time he turned back, that pleasant expression was fixed firmly in place again. "Of course, they're not terribly happy about it."

 "Oh, man, that's terrible! You've really gotta get a handle on this stuff, Pitch." Jack squeezed Jamie's shoulders one last time and stood up, twirling his staff. Everything was so close to working out, it just needed a little _push_...

 "Let's make it a race! With a _prize_ ," Jack added, pointing at the mares for emphasis. Snowflakes wafted. "So I just got all these memories back from when I was a kid, right? And I've kinda been too busy for a nap! I bet those are gonna be some weird dreams, yeah?" The nightmares stirred, turning to look at him. They looked _way_  too interested for Jack to be entirely comfortable, but Pitch was practically gaping at him, and Jamie was starting to smile, and Jack knew it was gonna be worth it.

 "That's what I figured!" he went on. "So, whoever gets the most done - teeth or candycanes or whatever - gets dibs on a whole week's worth of those crazy dreams I'm gonna have." The nightmares were excited now, ears up, prancing in place or jostling for a better view. Jack felt kind of like the last cookie in the cookie jar, and it wasn't exactly pleasant. He pumped a fist in the air anyway. "Yeah, I knew you guys would like that! Okay, on my mark: Ready... Get set... _GO!_ " 

 The nightmares burst into flight and Jack took off after them, whooping and pelting their flanks with snowballs. They whinnied and bucked and chased each other and Jack like a flock of squabbling crows, except bigger and a whole lot meaner. When the nightmares had all vanished into the shadows and over the rooftops, Jack spiraled back down to earth, like a lone snowflake.

 Pitch Black was laughing into his hand, just as incredulous as North, Bunny, Tooth, and Jamie. Jack couldn't help but preen a little.

 Tooth's wings buzzed, lifting her off the pavement for a few seconds as she got up close and personal with Jack's face. "Jack, do you know what you've _done?_ " 

 "Something I'm gonna regret tomorrow night?" Jack suggested.

 "That was a very brave thing you did," North told Jack, putting a hand on his shoulder. The big man squeezed. "Also, _very_  stupid. Do not do it again."

 "I believe," Pitch chuckled, "that you've made some new friends, Jack Frost."

 "You've got kangaroos loose in the top paddock, mate," Bunny told Jack, one ear folding backwards. "A great big mob of 'em."

 "I think you mean 'ponies,'" Jack countered, but his heart wasn't in it.

 "Too bloody right," Bunny shot back.

 Jamie must have been thinking very hard during the whole episode, though, because he actually sidled a little closer to the bogeyman, who sobered instantly under the boy's regard. Jack and the other Guardians turned all their attention to the pair. "Is it true," Jamie asked, very carefully, "that you only take kids away when they've been bad?"

 Pitch Black regarded Jamie seriously, crouching to one knee. "It's been years since I took anyone away," he said. He had to know that everyone's eyes were on him, but he didn't show it. "Managing nightmares is very time-consuming."

 "...but you used to?"

 "Oh, of course. I took them back once they'd learned better. ...Usually." 

 Jamie squeaked. "Usually?"

 The bogeyman looked thoughtful, then leaned in and whispered into Jamie's ear. Bunny leaned so far forward he almost fell on his own face, ears twitching. Jack watched Bunny's face for any hints about what they should do. For what it was worth, Jamie didn't look traumatized when Pitch Black was done. Jack thought he sounded a little impressed. "Wow, that's a lot worse than a bogeyman..."

 "It was _very_  irritating," Pitch agreed, and Jack desperately wanted to know what they were talking about. Bunny wasn't giving any hints, either, unless scratching his ear counted. Jack seriously considered freezing his foot to his head. 

 His... ...much bigger foot. Jack spun to check on the other Guardians - Tooth was hovering a few inches off the floor, wings buzzing gently, and North wasn't leaning on his sword anymore. And Bunny was up to Jack's waist, looking a lot more like the Bunny he knew. Woah. Apparently Pitch wasn't a liar. That must be why nobody was yanking Jamie away from the bogeyman. That, and Pitch wasn't actually doing anything to _scare_  Jamie. He was mostly answering questions. Jack had always known Jamie was kind of a bookworm, but seriously, asking the bogeyman about the Dark Ages? _Really?_  

 A dark streak passed overhead, shedding golden light like a sparkler, and everyone turned to look at it. Pitch stood up again, nodding to Jamie. Jamie skittered back to the Guardians as the nightmare came in for a landing. It was _prancing_ , ears and tail up even as the edges of its sand flared gold and dissolved into a faint glow. Jack checked on his fellow Guardians, and they were looking - _normal_. Tall Bunny and his oversized ears, Tooth hovering effortlessly, North sturdy as a ruddy-cheeked mountain.

 "The rest will be returning shortly with your Sandman," Pitch commented as he and the nightmare regarded each other. "Oh, and there was a tie for first place when Anguis left, but I imagine that will be resolved soon enough."

 Jack almost missed that last bit, because North was cheering wholeheartedly, Bunny swore a long satisfied streak, and Tooth did a tight loop-de-loop that Jack couldn't help but envy a little. Jamie latched on to Jack and squeezed as hard as he could, laughing in relief. 

 The rest of the nightmares were coming back now, glimmering at the edges before they vanished into the shadows, and those glints of gold were solidifying into long golden threads, and those threads were leading away into the sky - and in the sky there was Sandy, waving with both arms as he came down to them. If it were anyone else, he'd've been shouting in glee; as it was, Jack could see his grin even from the ground. Silver-green darts zipped around him, Tooth's baby fairies homing in on the bigger Tooth. Tooth shot up to meet them on the way down, and if Jamie hadn't been holding on to him, Jack would have done the same.

 Sandy hugged all of them, even Jack, sand pictures flickering above his head too fast for anyone to make much sense of. An egg cracking open and a miniature Sandman coming out of it was specially for Bunny, though, and Jack was not surprised at all when Sandy showed _him_ a big group of horses with an X over them to go along with Sandy himself shaking a finger. "I know, naughty list again, right?" Jack laughed.

 "Not this time!" North put in; Jack could have sworn he'd heard Sandy meep out loud when North had hugged him tight in those big tattooed arms. "Many more chances for naughty list later."

 Most of the nightmares had melted away, and when Jack noticed Pitch again, he found the bogeyman halfway hidden in the shadows and _this_  close to doing the same thing. At least, until the bogeyman smirked and pointed over Jack's shoulder. A glance at Sandy found him frowning at whatever it was Pitch had pointed to. 

 Jack had the sinking feeling that he knew what was going to be there. He turned anyway.

 The glitter-edged nightmare looked smug. Jack began to reconsider the wisdom of his recent decisions. It - she? reached out and took the collar of his hoodie in her teeth, chewing thoughtfully. It was the most horsey thing Jack had seen any of the nightmares do thus far, which wasn't as reassuring as he wished it was. For one thing, it put the spikes on her face way too close to his chest.

  _Yes, you'll do very well. My name is Serenitatis._

 Jack yelped and tried to jerk backwards, but only managed to stretch his hoodie. The voice was on the _inside_  of his head, a raspy whispering that went straight down his spine. "Nobody said you could _talk!_ "

 Pitch Black was laughing at him. Sandy facepalmed. At least everybody _else_  looked just as confused as Jack felt.

 "You thought I was joking about new friends, didn't you?" Pitch snickered. Actually, it was pretty much an all-out cackle at that point. "Have _fun_ , Jack. And remember what I said, Jamie Bennet." He bowed with a flourish and stepped backwards into the wall, becoming a darker Pitch-shaped shadow before disappearing entirely.

 "Oh, thanks a _lot_ , Pitch," Jack growled, hoping that the bogeyman could still hear him. "What'm I supposed to do with _you_ , anyway?" That was to the nightmare. He wasn't sure how he felt about their talking and having names like people did; it was a lot easier when they were just sand.

  _Sleep_ , the nightmare suggested.

 "No thanks. Sandy?"

 The Sandman shrugged, looking regretful. Tooth said gently, "Jack, there's nothing we _can_  do. You did promise..."

 Jack looked at the nightmare's face. No _wonder_  she was so smug. "...awesome. Hey, uh, could you let me go for a minute?" She blinked at him, slowly, and did nothing. He added, "I won't run away or anything."

 She released his hoodie, but didn't step back. The nightmare was big, even as far as actual horses went, and Jack was definitely not comfortable with how close she was. _You can run. I like it when they run_.

 "Yeaaa-aaah, okay, how about no." 

 "Are you gonna be okay, Jack?" Jamie was worried again, which was the opposite of what Jack wanted. So he backed away from the nightmare - from Serenitatis - and scrounged up a smile from somewhere. 

 "Don't worry, it'll take a lot more than one little nightmare to get me down!" Jack reassured him, firmly ignoring the weight of the actually-pretty-big nightmare's gaze on his back.

 Jamie gave him a look that said he wasn't buying it. Then he turned and looked up at North and the rest of the Guardians. "...can you take care of him?"

 "Jack Frost's the last bludger you need to worry about," Bunny declared. "We'll give the bloody nag the flick if she comes on too strong - _yeah_ , you," he added to the nightmare. Jack personally thought pointing at her with the boomerang was overkill, but he felt better anyway.

 Or maybe it wasn't overkill at all, because it made Jamie feel better, too; he smiled and everything. "Okay. Don't be too mean to him, all right?" The crazy kid was talking _to the nightmare_. She stuck her nose out, sniffing at him, and Jack scooted between the two, easy as anything. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Bunny lean around Jamie to do the same. North's hand went to his sword, and the hum of Tooth's wings rose in pitch. The nightmare snorted at them all, rumbling in a very unhorselike fashion, but she turned her head away from Jamie, which was the important part.

 "...You know, it's three in the morning, how about Bunny takes you home so you can get some sleep?" Jack said brightly, eyes on the nightmare. She tossed her head, and Jack tried not to think of her expression as a pout. He failed.

 "Y'don't wanna catch a cold, mate," Bunny put in, and Jack didn't even mind the really-not-subtle-at-all dig.

 Jamie sighed loud enough that Jack could hear it from where he was. "This is way cooler than going to _bed_ ," he complained. "I promise I'm not sleepy at all!" Sandy brightened, cracking his knuckles (silently, how did that even work) and pulling a ball of sand together. Jamie slumped, making the " _aaaauwww, mom!_ " face that Jack had seen so often. "Okay..."

 Jack wasn't really expecting for Jamie to come over and hug him, but that didn't make it any less perfect. He hugged back as hard as he could, and promised he'd be careful and he'd come by again once he'd ditched the nightmare. He could still feel how warm and _real_  Jamie was, even as Jamie went and said goodnight to the other guardians. 

 Jamie also said goodnight to the nightmare, which was something Jack didn't want to think too much about. He _really_  didn't want to think about how Serenitatis bobbed her head in response, almost politely. Fortunately, Sandy and Bunny managed to whisk Jamie off into dreamland and into the Easter tunnels before the nightmare tried anything.

 Tooth said what they were all thinking. "I think we should keep an eye on Jamie for a little while, since it's been such an unusual night for him." She was looking at the nightmare as she talked, and there was no doubt about what she really meant. "Well, most of us. I don't want to sound like I'm leaving you out, Jack, but..."

 "...But I kinda have an evil horse following me around right now," Jack finished for her. "I gotcha, Tooth. Don't worry about it!" 

 They all gave him identical looks of disbelief, and Jack was pretty sure those sand pictures meant something like "do you have snowflakes for brains?" The nightmare was snickering in the back of h is head, clearly enjoying how uncomfortable they were.

 It was gonna be a long week.


End file.
